Cobalt carbonate

Bioaccumulation: aquatic / sediment

Description of key information

Inorganic cobalt compounds exhibit bioaccumulation potential with BCF values ranging from 100-4000 for marine fish, and <10-1000 for freshwater fish.

Additional information

Summary according the bioaccumulation potential of cobalt and cobalt compounds, as given in CICAD 69 (WHO 2006)

⁶⁰Co is taken up by unicellular algae with reported concentration factors (dry weight) of 40 000 for Scenedesmus obliquus and 18 000 for Selenastrum capricornutum (Nucho et al., 1988; Corisco & Carreiro, 1999). Freshwater molluscs have concentration factors of 100–14 000 (~1–300 in soft tissue). Much of the cobalt taken up by molluscs and crustaceans from water or sediment is adsorbed to the shell or exoskeleton; very little cobalt is generally accumulated in the edible parts (Amiard & Amiard-Triquet, 1979; Smith & Carson, 1981). Similarly, in laboratory studies with Daphnia magna, adsorption to the exoskeleton was the major contamination process (Adam et al., 2001). In studies with starfish (Asterias rubens), accumulation of ⁵⁷Co was found to be predominately from seawater rather than from food (Warnau et al., 1999). Bioaccumulation factors for marine fish and freshwater fish are 100–4000 and <10–1000, respectively (Smith & Carson, 1981). However, accumulation is mostly in the viscera and skin of the fish, not the edible parts of the fish (Smith & Carson, 1981). In carp (Cyprinus carpio), accumulation from water accounted for 75% of ⁶⁰Co accumulated from both water and food; accumulation from water and food was additive (Baudin & Fritsch, 1989). Depuration halflives were 53 and 87 days for fish contaminated from food and water, respectively (Bandin & Fritsch, 1989). Biomagnification of cobalt up the food-chain does not occur (Smith & Carson, 1981).

References:

WHO (2006). Concise International Chemical Assessment (CICAD) Document 69, Cobalt and inorganic cobalt compounds.

Nucho R, Rambaud A, Foulquier L, Baudin JP (1988) Bioaccumulation du ⁶⁰Co par une algue planctonique, Scenedesmus obliquus. Influence du stade de développement de la culture sur la fixation du radionucléide. Acta Oecologica Oecologia Applicata, 9(2):111–125.

Corisco JAG, Carreiro MCV (1999) Co⁶⁰ transfer from water to the freshwater planktonic algae Selenastrum capricornutum Prinz. In: Anagnostoopoulos P, Brebbia CA, eds. Water pollution V: Modeling, measuring, and prediction. Boston, MA, WIT Press, pp. 427–436 (Progress in Water Resources, Vol. 1).

Amiard JC, Amiard-Triquet C (1979) Distribution of cobalt ⁶⁰ in a mollusc, a crustacean and freshwater teleost: Variations as a function of the source of pollution and during elimination. Environmental Pollution, 20(3):199–213.

Smith IC, Carson BL (1981) Trace metals in the environment. Ann Arbor, MI, Ann Arbor Science Publishers.

Baudin JP, Fritsch AF (1989) Relative contributions of food and water in the accumulation of ⁶⁰Co by a freshwater fish. Water Research, 23(7):817–823.